All I Know
by Little Dark Dynamite
Summary: It's sophomore year at Merryweather High. Will Rachel fix her friendship with Melinda? The sequel to The Truth, second in my Speak trilogy. Highly recommended to read The Truth first.
1. Back at School

**Author's Note: I'm back! :)**

**Sorry, it took so long. I've been really busy with schoolwork and some personal stuff. But I've finally started the sequel to The Truth, and it's going to be a chapter story! I'll try to update as soon as I can, but since it's Thanksgiving Break (I'm off for a week) I might have the whole story up before I go back to school on Monday.**

**Oh, and yes, I changed my pen name again. I got it from a Runaways song. My last pen name, if anyone forgot, was LizBennet713. Okay, ENOUGH OF MY BABBLING! Here it is, enjoy! And review? Pretty please with sugar on top?**

**All I Know, A Speak Fanfic **

I looked out as I opened my mom's car door. The giant letters across the building spelled out "Merryweather High-Home of the-" There was a blank space. Home of the what? Lions? Wolves? Or would we just be the Hornets again, despite the "Horny Hornet" incident at last year's basketball championship game?

"This school never makes up its mind, does it?"

I turn to my mom, whose curly brown hair was tied up in a ponytail and who was leaning forward in her seat to look at me through the window. "Guess not," I say.

My mom checks her watch impatiently and sips her coffee. "Okay, I have to go. Can't be late for work."

"Okay," I say, taking my backpack from my seat and flinging it onto my back. _Ow. _Flinging a backpack with seven notebooks, a pencil box, and a couple of books was not a good idea. "Bye, Mom!"

"Bye, sweetie, have a good day at school!" my mom yells as she drives away. A group of girls nearby giggle.

I can **not **wait to start driving.

I enter the halls. Everyone is yelling at each other across the hall, asking how their summer went. I search for any of my friends. I see Nicole chatting with other jocks. I heard she entered a local tennis tournament for kids and she won in the teen division. I'll have to ask her about that later. I don't see Ivy anywhere; she's probably with a bunch of kids that are in Art Club or the Thespians. Almost the exchange students are back in their home countries. I freeze when I see one more familiar face at her locker, toting a drawing pad, a navy-colored messenger bag, and colored pastels.

Melinda Sordino. My best friend. No, my ex-best friend. No, wait. Actually, I wasn't sure what we were. I don't think she would talk to me. Not after all the things I did and said to her last year.

_"You liar! You're just jealous because I'm popular and I'm going to the prom with the hottest guy in school and you're not. And you sent me that note, huh? Warning me to stay away from him? You are so sick." _

I regretted saying that the whole summer. Why didn't I stay with her? Why didn't I listen?

I start walking towards her, then I stop when I'm almost right behind her. Her locker door is almost blocking my face. I raise my hand to tap her lightly on the shoulder, but then I pause and drop my hand. I don't think she trusts anyone to touch her. Especially after she was raped. By my ex-boyfriend.

Andy Evans, my ex, finally told me the truth that he raped Melinda after my several (and unsuccessful) attempts to get him to 'fess up. He told me at last year's senior prom. While we were slow dancing.

Andy was all over me. I asked him again about Melinda. He asked me why I didn't trust him. I told him I heard he raped Melinda. He ignored me and kept kissing my neck. I repeated my question. He asked what the hell was wrong with me. I raised my voice and yelled, "DID YOU?" He called me a bitch. I took that as a "yes." I dumped him and danced the night away with Pedro, the exchange student from Portugal, while Andy got drunk and passed out in a bowl of bean dip. Classy.

I snap back to the present. "Melinda?" I ask softly.

Melinda turns and sees me. Her straight, auburn hair was tied up in a low ponytail, like my mom's. Her brown eyes were wide with surprise, and her lips were still a little chapped. But overall, she looked better. Healthier.

"H-Hey, Rach," she stutters.

"Hey," I reply.

There's silence for about a minute.

"Um." _Say something, idiot!_ A voice shouts in my head. But right before I open my mouth, Melinda opens hers. She stops. "Oh, were you gonna say something?"

"No, go ahead," I say quickly.

"Are you sure?" Melinda asks.

"It's fine," I snap. My eyes grow big. _Nice._

Melinda nods, looking down at the floor. I push a strand of curly brown hair from my face. "So..." Melinda begins. "Yeah?" I say. This conversation isn't going as well as I hoped. But I can't blame her; I was a total bitch to her all freshman year.

"How was your summer?" Melinda finally asks. "Did you go to France?"

_Wow. She remembered._ "Yeah, but it was pretty boring. I wanted it to be more exciting. I mean, we did go see the Eiffel Tower and all, but we didn't have to go to, like, ten different museums to look at paintings and stuff..." I rambled.

"I'd like to look at paintings. In France, I mean," Melinda adds.

So she's an artist-type. Like Ivy. "How was your summer?" I ask, even though I have a pretty good feeling that it sucked.

"Okay, if you call standing in a court room with a psycho and going to therapy once a week fun."

I bit my lip. I knew she was talking about _him_. "Melinda," I began. "Andy-"

I saw her stiffen at the sound of his name. I bit my lip again.

"He-" I began again. "He told me he raped you. Last year."

"Was it at prom?"

"Yeah!" I exclaim, surprised. "How did you know?"

"I heard you and IT broke up at prom."

"IT?"

"My nickname for Andy."

"Why "IT?"" It reminded me of when we read A Wrinkle in Time in sixth grade and the bad guy was a giant brain called IT. I don't think it fits, considering Andy never had a brain in the first place.

"He doesn't deserve a name," Melinda answered. "Not after... you know." She bit her lip. She paused, then put a finger to her lip and pulled it away, examining it. I look. A tiny spot of blood. "Aw," she said, frowning.

I dug through my purse, opening a pocket, and pulling out a strawberry-flavored Lip-Smacker. Yeah, I still use Lip-Smackers even though I'm almost 16. They rock.

"Here." I held it out to her. She took it and quickly applied some on her lips. She put the cap back on.

"Did it stop bleeding?"

I examine her lips. "Yup. It's small, so I don't think anyone will notice."

Melinda grins. "Thanks." She holds the Lip-Smacker back to me. "Keep it," I say. "Thanks," Melinda repeated, sticking it in her pocket. She checked her watch. "Class starts in two minutes."

"Crap," I say. "I better go."

"Wait, what's your schedule?"

We swap schedules to find out that we have Gym 3rd period and English 6th period. "Cool, I guess I'll see you in Gym," I say.

"Okay. But Rach?"

"Yeah?"

"Meet me at lunch, okay? I want to show you something."

**I hoped that was okay... Soooo? What do you think? I'll have the next chapter up soon! ~Little Dark Dynamite**


	2. Melinda's Closet

**Author's Note: Hello again! **

**First, thanks to Marie Poe and RobstenLover223 for reviewing. And I'd also like to thank reviewgirl911 for giving me a few ideas for this story.**

**Here we go!**

After buying a Ho-Ho, (I brought the rest of my lunch), I met Melinda at the cafeteria's doors. She was carrying her own sack lunch. She said, "Follow me."

Melinda led me through the halls. It was about five minutes before we stopped in front of a door in the Senior Wing, which is unknown territory to anyone who wasn't, well, a senior.

"This is it," Melinda announced.

"A janitor's closet?"

"An old janitor's closet. Nobody uses it."

"Except you?" I ask tentatively.

Melinda just smiled and opened the door.

The closet was tiny. Miniscule, almost. There was a few shelves of old textbooks that didn't look like they came from this century. There was also an armchair with a huge, brown stain; mops; a couple bottles of bleach; and an old desk that looks like something my grandmother would want to have in her antique collection.

"So?"

I look at Melinda, then notice the smell. "It reeks."

"You get used to it." She places her sack lunch on one of the shelves and pulls out a sandwich. A PB&J. What we used to eat in the fourth grade. All of a sudden, I see a younger Melinda and a younger me eating PB&Js and laughing. I blink, sending me back to the present.

"So," I say. "What happened with Andy? You pressed charges, right?"

"Right."

"So is he doing time in jail?"

"No."

"NO?" I screech. "B-But... why? How could he not..."

Melinda shook her head. "I don't know how, either. But he has to do community service and register as a sex offender." She laughed, a small, quiet giggle. "Either way, his life is ruined."

I nodded and bit my lip. "And..." I looked around the tiny room. I notice a broken mirror with most of the glass missing. Probably from last year, when Melinda used a shard of glass to fight against Andy. At least, that's what I heard. "...You ate lunch here every day last year," I assumed.

"Sort of." Melinda swallowed the last bit of her sandwich. "I-I kinda stayed here during classes, too. I guess I needed a place to hide."

This was becoming too much for me to handle.

"Wait. You would ditch class and stay _here?_" I ask, in disbelief.

"Yeah. I mostly slept. Sometimes I would draw pictures and hang them up on the wall."

"That's..." I paused. "Crazy."

Dead silence.

"Crazy?"

"Yeah. Crazy. I mean, everyone knew you were a slacker, but if anybody knew this, they would think you were a total psycho."

"Psycho?" Melinda asked angrily. "Rach, I was raped! I didn't care about grades!"

"Yeah, but I bet they'd be better if you stayed in class!"

"Sure! I'll fall asleep in class and look like an idiot," Melinda said sarcastically. "And I'll make a slacker like you look like the perfect student, so you don't get in trouble doodling your boyfriend's name and your name in little hearts and passing notes instead of actually _taking_ notes."

I lost it. "_Slacker?_ You know what? At least I'm not psychotic. At least I have a life. At least everyone likes me, and doesn't hate me like they all hate you!" My eyes grew wide. I couldn't believe I got so out of control like that. Why was I so angry? Why did I have to open my big-ass mouth?

Melinda's hands were in fists. She bit her lip again and shook her head angrily. "I shouldn't have brought you here."

"Why's that?" I ask, with a little bit of venom still in my voice from the slacker comment.

"You've just turned into this- completely selfish person. Who cares about what other people think of her." She paused. "Just like Heather."

"Heather?" I ask, puzzled. "Heather Billings? That girl from Ohio that joined the Marthas?" I remembered her. She did crappy decorations for the prom last year. "There's no way I'm worse than her."

Melinda walked past me and opened the door, holding it open. Wanting me to leave. I pick up my backpack and walk out, turning to face her.

"Actually, there are ways you are worse than her," Melinda's voice wobbled. Before she shut the door, I swore I heard a whimper. And for the first time in a couple of months, I began to cry.

**Author's Note: Uh-oh, DRAMA! Sorry, if the chapter's a little short. Review, please? ~LDD**


	3. Guilty

**Author's Note: Okay, I know this chapter is a little short. But I think the next chapter after this one will be the last. Thanks again to Marie Poe for reviewing.**

Fifth period sucked. Sixth period was crap. The ride home alone on the bus was torture. The easiest part of the rest of my day was not having any homework to do, except forms that my mom needed to sign. When I gave her the forms to my mom, she seemed to notice my bad mood.

"Rachel, are you okay?"

"Fine," I mumbled.

Mom cocked her head. "Huh. Most teenagers I know say 'I'm fine.'"

"I'm fine," I repeated numbly.

"No, you're not. I can tell." She sat down in a chair, placing the forms on the table. She pulled up another chair. I sat down. "What's wrong?" I took a deep breath.

"I saw Melinda today."

Mom nodded. "I thought you would. How is she? I talked to her mom the other day. She told me what happened."

"She's okay, I guess. I didn't really ask. But she looked better. And she was talking more."

"Therapy must be helping her, then. As for Andy..."

I looked down, hoping that Mom would notice my face turning red. "Oh, I'm sorry, honey. I shouldn't have brought him up. I know how much you liked him."

_Crap! She did notice!_

"It's okay, you didn't mean to," I say, looking back up at her. "He was a jerk, anyway."

"So what happened? You saw Melinda..."

"...Before school." I launched into a full recap of my day: the conversation before, Andy, Melinda's closet, and the fight. When I finished, my mom had the You-Were-Probably-Feeling-Like expression that all psychologists have on their face 24/7.

"Well, both you and Melinda overreacted," Mom stated.

_Thank you, Mrs. Obvious._

"But you overreacted first."

_Again, thank you. _

"I know that. But I guess it was too much for me to handle. I was kind of in shock."

"I bet you were. But I don't think that was the main reason why you overreacted."

I stared at Mom. "Then why did I-"

"You didn't apologize for the way you acted to her last year."

Oh. My. God. I completely forgot! God, that was the reason why I wanted to talk to her! Why did I let it slip from my mind like that? "You're right," I say. "I totally forgot to say I was sorry."

"I think you just felt a whole lot of emotions when you saw Melinda. But mostly anger at yourself and guilt."

"Yeah, I definitely felt guilt," I mutter.

"Plus, you have that big mouth of yours."

"Mom! I do not!"

"The symbolism essay from last year?"

_Oh yeah..._

"One time!" I insist.

"What about today?"

"Okay, two times..."

Mom put her arm around me. "It's okay, Rachel. I had a big mouth, too." I laughed. "Thanks, Mom."

"So do you know how you're going to fix this?" Mom asked.

I smiled. "I do now."

**Author's Note: Again, really short. But then again, we are getting near the end of the story. Review! And Happy Thanksgiving! ~LDD**


	4. I'm Sorry

**Author's Note: Hello, everyone!**

**First off, thanks once again to Marie Poe Robsten Lover 223 for reviewing. You guys are the best! :)**

**Second, This is the last chapter of All I Know. :( I know, it's sad, but I need to start working on other fanfics (I have a ton of ideas lined up.) But I had a lot of fun writing this fanfic and I hop you enjoyed it. Anyway, here it is the last chapter of All I Know.**

The next day, I speed-walked through the halls. Apparently, there was a paper ball war going on that no one had told me about. Paper balls were flying. I dodged most of them, (I only got hit once) and found Locker 605: Melinda's locker. I pulled out a Sticky-Note that was torn in half. I read the note one more time before sticking it on her locker door.

_"Mel- _

_Meet me at the big oak tree near the cafeteria at lunch. I need to talk to you. _

_Rachel_

**_Later_**

I sat underneath the tree, on top of my beige jacket, looking around frantically. Lunch had started exactly seven minutes ago, and Melinda still isn't here. She better not have blown me off, otherwise I did all this worrying for the past four periods for nothing.

Wait. Wait a minute.

What if she did blow me off? Did I piss her off that much? Or is she taking her time on purpose so she can try to avoid me? Maybe she's busy and can't talk to me right now. Maybe she didn't find the note. Or maybe she did, then laughed at it, then threw it away. She wouldn't do that... Would she? Or maybe she...

"Hey."

My head snaps up so quickly, I get a little dizzy. "Hey," I breathe.

"Sorry I'm late," Melinda continues, her voice sounding a little controlled.

"It's fine. At least you came."

Melinda nods. "I wasn't going to come here at first."

_Oh shit._

"Because..." I say. "You're still mad about yesterday?"

"Well, yeah. But not for that reason. I was going to meet someone else."

I nod. "So..."

_Get to the point, Rachel. _A voice commands in my head.

"I'm sorry," I say.

Melinda scrunched up her eyebrows in confusion.

"Not just for yesterday. For everything."

"Everything?" Melinda asks. She sounds skeptical.

"Everything. Every single damn thing. What happened yesterday, ignoring you in the bathroom last year, teasing you..."

As I'm listing all the bad things I did to her, Melinda sits on the ground and places her messenger bag on her lap, using it as an armrest. Her eyes grow wider with each thing, and I notice her eyes are filling with tears.

"...Telling you that I hated you, which was a total lie, not believing you in the first place, ditching you at the party before ninth grade when you were..."

My eyes are burning, tears are brimming. I wipe them away with the back of my hand. Melinda's eyes are blinking rapidly.

"Rach, it's okay. You didn't know about-" She pauses. "-that. Nobody did. It's-"

"Look," I interrupt. "All I know is that I've been a completely evil bitch to you last year. And I've probably been the worst friend in the world. I don't blame you if you don't want to be my friend again. But I just wanted to let you that I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry."

I looked down, one hand on my forehead, trying to stop the tears from falling. There. I said it.

I felt two arms wrap around my shoulders. I look up.

Melinda is hugging me.

"Mel, why-?"

"Why what?" Her voice sounds wobbly again, just like yesterday.

"Why are you hugging me?"

She lets go. "I forgive you."

"What? Really?"

"Of course, Rach. Why would I even be hugging you if I didn't forgive you. If I didn't, I would slap you."

I laugh, a semi-loud giggle. Melinda joins in, her laugh is the same quiet giggle that I heard yesterday.

"You are a wise-ass," I choke out.

Melinda just grins at me. "And I'm sorry for what I said yesterday," Melinda adds. "You're not worse than Heather."

"Good," I say. "And it's a good thing she moved."

"She did?"

"Yup. She whined about how much she hated it here, so her family moved back to Ohio."

"Typical."

"I know, right? So, who were you going to eat lunch with today? Before you came here?"

"Oh, um, Dave Petrakis."

"Dave? The really smart guy?"

"Yeah, we've kinda been going out for a couple of months now," Melinda admits, blushing a little bit.

"That's great, Mel. I mean it. Really," I comment.

Melinda laughs. "Thanks, Rach. And you don't need to tell me you mean it, I know you do."

"Okay," I laugh. "Mel?"

"Yeah?"

"There's still, like, twenty minutes left. You should go find Dave and eat with him."

"Really? Are you sure? I don't want to just leave you alone and-"

"It's fine," I insist. "We can talk later. Besides," I add with a smirk. "I'll want details about you and Dave later." Melinda smiles.

"Actually, I'm redecorating my room on Saturday. Maybe you can help me and we can talk some more."

I smile. "I'd like that."

Melinda leans over and hugs me. I hug her back. Melinda gets up and picks up her bag and her lunch. She walks away. "Bye, Rach!" she calls, waving.

I wave back. "Talk to you later!" I yell back. I watch Melinda disappear into the building.

For the first time in over a year, I was glad to have Melinda Sordino back in my life. I'm glad she's my friend again. Hell, we might even become best friends again. Maybe best friends for a long time.

Hopefully I learn to control my big-ass mouth along the way.

**The End**

**Author's Note: WHEW! My first multi-chapter story is done! I really hoped you enjoyed this story. Review! ~LDD**


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